On Sunday, October 13th, Rev. Ross Allen and Joyce DeGreeff led part one of a two part series on “Building Beloved Community” within the context of our growing church community. After an introduction to the history of the term, first coined by philosopher and theologian Josiah Royce and later popularized by Martin Luther King Jr., folks exchanged stories of personal experiences with both strong and challenging communities. From this, we agreed on some shared values and optimum guidelines for strengthening relationships and communicating effectively when trying to build a beloved community. We also named the fact that inevitably disagreements and conflicts will arise that will require intentional action in order to work through the differences. Using a tool called the “Approaching Differences Diagram”, we were able to reflect together on the benefits of entering into these more difficult spaces with a posture of openness and trust, as opposed to one of suspicion and fear, in order to move through the dissonance with grace and find a place of understanding and empathy.


Please join us this coming Sunday, October 20th, @ 11am in the Parlor for Building Beloved Community: Part II – Spiritual Gifts and the Power of Belonging.



